Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

Time is and always has been my biggest enemy. Baking takes time, sometimes a lot of it, and when I don’t have time I don’t bake. As I got older I found I had less and less time, baking got shoved to the side, saved for days when there was a calm in the storm of sports, activities, and homework. For me baking has always had other difficulties, but I have found that over the years google has been able to solve many of them, such as in the absence of an egg, vegetable oil, or sometimes applesauce can do the trick instead.

When I was younger I used to try things on my own, attempt recipes and then add my own flair to them. Such as once I put sliced strawberries in the middle of a double layer cake with frosting. First I thought the strawberries would be a cool touch, maybe they were during the first day, but they went bad after that and it was a shocking bite the day after. The first time I made frosting by myself I didn’t realize I needed powdered sugar and I used regular sugar, that was a huge mistake as each bite had a sandy texture. When I was younger these things made me not want to cook, but as I stuck with it I found I had many more reasons to keep trying.

My family has always been a huge ally. Especially my dad, who lives for dessert, mostly the chocolate kind which also happens to be my favorite. With their continued support and encouragement to fill the house with sweets I continued to bake. There was always and still is a never ending demand, as sweets last about 3 days on average at my house. I know I made something good when it lasts even less. That is all the encouragement I need, people to bake for.  I have continued to experiment over the years and sometimes I come up with something awesome and sometimes they still turn out horrible. With all this being said, my enemy called time still affects how I bake and how often I can bake, because of that I have often stumbled upon my greatest allies of all.

Simple recipes. Simple recipes that take a little as ten minutes and are absolutely delicious, have become my favorite, as I often have time to make them and everyone seems to like them. They are my biggest ally when it comes to baking. They allow me to bake as often as I want, using the little time I have available. They are essentially what allows me to keep baking as often as I do. The most recent recipe I have found is one shown to me by a friend. Kierra Rolston made lemon cookies, lemon cookies which my mother tried and decided she could not live without, so henceforth I was told to get the recipe. I asked Kierra and when she showed me how I was shocked! They were so easy, and delicious too! My kind of recipe!

Ingredients-  One package of lemon cake mix, 2 eggs, ⅓ cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon lemon extract, 1 lemon, and ⅓ cup confectioners sugar for decoration.

Directions- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pour cake mix in a bowl and add in the eggs, vegetable oil, and lemon extract. Next take the lemon and shave the outside of the lemon off with a fine grater, this is lemon zest. Take the first layer off the entire lemon with the grater. Prepare cookie sheets with light greasing. Roll the cookies into small balls, roll these balls in the confectioners sugar until coated. Place the lemon balls on the cookie sheet after coating and pat them down gently with a fork. Finally place them in the oven for 6 mins and remove them from the cookie sheet immediately after cooking!   

Photos: Accredited to Author